#xander/anya

[buffster]

I Was Made To Love You (BTVS 5.15)

This is part of my ongoing Buffyverse Project, where I write notes/meta for every episode in an attempt to better understand the characters and themes of the shows. You can find the BTVS list here and the ATS list here. Gifs are not mine.

Ah, remember filler episodes? What a throwback. I do admit Buffy does them better than most. They usually fit a cohesive season theme and relate to some larger arc in the show, at least.

Buffy begins the episode having a little freak out over Spike's crush. Riley leaving her felt like a rejection and she still blames herself for letting a good one get away (I don't think they were right for each other, but this is Buffy's POV) and now Spike crushing on her says only the worst guys like her. Buffy says she'll run off good guys with her alarming strength and self-centeredness. Ugh. Buffy is one of the most selfless characters but everyone around her comes down so hard when she has One Single Moment that she thinks she's self-involved.

Xander: Or maybe you could just be Buffy and he'll see your amazing heart and fall in love with you.

Buffy is still feeling the blues when Joyce gets ready for her first date with Brian. She tells her mom she isn't qualified to giving dating advice because the two guys she dated ran out of town. Poor Buffster. Her intuition isn't doing her any favors as she then approaches Ben. Ben ends up giving her his phone number as Spike watches. He tries to get a reaction from Buffy by approaching April, who throws him through a window.

Xander: She's a sex bot. I mean, what guy doesn't dream about that? Beautiful girl with no other thought but to please you, willing to do anything...Too many girls. I miss Oz. He'd get it. He wouldn't say anything, but he'd get it.

The only girl who seems to get it is Willow. I'm interested in the parallels between Warren and Willow. She understands the idea of avoiding the emotional fallout of your problems through use of your brain. Using magic to control Tara's emotions is pretty similar to creating a robot.

Spike shows up at The Magic Shop attempting to do damage control over what happened between Drusilla and Buffy. None of them are having it.

Buffy confronts Warren, who says he created April to be the perfect girlfriend. Then he got bored and "fell in love" (got intrigued by) Katrina. He also mentions that he designed April to feel pain if she ignores him when he's calling her.

April: Crying is blackmail. Good girlfriends don't cry.

Good lord. Katrina is disgusted by Warren and runs off.

Buffy feels sympathy for April and her obsession with Warren.

Buffy: Nah -- people are the strangest people. I mean, I'm not that different from her. I've got so much more than her -- I've got this great life, all this power, all these friends, my family, but still, every time I don't have a boyfriend, I feel like someone took away my arms.

It's interesting that this is where we leave her in season seven...still not feeling ready for a relationship and like she needs to find her center. I'll have to comment more on that then. Buffy decides not to go out with Ben, which offends Glory.

We end on Spike commissioning the Buffy bot. Just...so gross.

That's the end of the script, but of course in the actual episode we get next episode's teaser. The cruelty of flowers from Brian sitting right by the door while Joyce lies dead on the couch...

Character Notes:

Anya Jenkins: She's gotten into investing online and has tripled her money from Giles. Dang, Anya!

Katrina Silber: She met Warren at an engineering seminar. She creates model trains that run with magnets.

Xander Harris: His little construction passion is pretty adorable.

[flarky]

Buffy The Vampire Slayer ↪ Season 3 Episode 20 | "The Prom" ↪ Living on a Hellmouth (2/?)

[90s-kid-sad-adult]

Im almost certain you're not

[tiredandoptimistic]

What's really so magical about Buffy the Vampire Slayer is that it's a world where everyone is bisexual except for Riley (straight) and Tara (lesbian).

[tubesock86]

the scoobies (plus faith and spike)

[whatisyourchildhoodtrauma]

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER | 5.03 "The Replacement"

[aphony-cree]

the Buffy gang as this post

[buffygirlfail]

btvs tweets 1/?

[buffster]

Triangle (BTVS 5.11)

This is part of my ongoing Buffyverse Project, where I write notes/meta for every episode in an attempt to better understand the characters and themes of the shows. You can find the BTVS list here and the ATS list here. Gifs are not mine.

So, I think Willow is a resentful people-pleaser.

We've seen a few hints this season of some Anya/Willow tension, and this episode is when it finally boils over. I sat and thought about why they're having problems, and though this episode concludes they're both overprotective of Xander, I don't think that's the issue on Willow's side. She makes several comments to Anya about the way she presents in the world. Anya is bold, unbothered about people's opinions, largely unfiltered. Willow also disliked Faith--though some of that was bff jealousy--and I think it's because they aren't worried about people-pleasing.

With Tara, we see a contrast of someone who genuinely believes the kindest, most forgiving thoughts in given scenarios. We see someone who hates to hurt others and gets something out of making them happy. With Willow I think her nature is a survival mechanism from an overbearing mother and a lifetime of being bullied. We get several pieces of evidence that Willow isn't being honest when she gives her friends the most supportive, loving opinions. She masks as sweet, innocent, and naive but there's more beneath the surface. I think she becomes triggered by someone like Anya because she has the audacity to voice the cruel/unforgiving/just plain rude thoughts aloud.

Anya: I don't do magic now. You're the one with that kind of power. In fact, D'Hoffryn offered you my old job! You're closer to being a vengeance demon that I am! Maybe Xander should be afraid of you!

Willow and Anya's fighting causes Willow's spell to go awry and a troll to be released. This is where we get the infamous hammer.

I didn't really get the sense that Anya had many personal issues with Willow other than a little fear she was trying to turn Xander against her. Anya would have complained about stealing spell ingredients with anyone, not just Willow. She's proven as the one who loves Xander the most when he refuses to choose between Anya and Willow and Anya says to kill her.

We also find out the troll is a man Anya dated as a human. He cheated on her and she turned him into a troll, earning her spot as a Vengeance Demon. He says he didn't cheat "in his heart". What a line.

Anya: Xander? If you ever decide to go, I want a warning. Big flashing red lights and one of those clocks that counts down like on a bomb in a movie. And there's this whole bunch of colored wires and I'm not sure which is the right one to cut, but I guess the green one and then at the last second... no... the red one and click, it stops with three tenths of a second left. Then you don't leave. Like that, okay? Xander: Check. Big bomb clock....By the way, I'm not going to want to go. Anya: Good. Because that would hurt. I can't think about how much that would hurt.

Hmm. They're really presenting their relationship as solid this season. I still think the demise was a little weird. I'm going to have to write more about it after I finish the show.

Of course, our other big focus this episode is the fallout from Riley leaving. Again...something is missing from me in Buffy's grieving. It just feels a little...hollow. Anyone else getting this? Like she's more hurt that she messed things up/got abandoned than actually really missing him. We learn later that Riley is absolutely devastated at this point. Even with the random crying she doesn't really feel devastated. More scorned by love in general and worried about being alone. And also just...even if you weren't in love with someone, when someone is there every day for a long time and they're suddenly gone it's going to be upsetting. It feels more like that.

Olaf: YOU THERE! DO YOU KNOW WHERE THERE ARE BABIES? Spike: (to Xander) What do you think? The hospital, maybe? Xander: What? Shut up!

Spike is a hot mess this episode as he screams at mannequin Buffy about not being grateful he showed her what Riley was up to. He's enraged she doesn't love him back and showing some ugly entitlement. His "affection" is really gross here. He won't help fight the troll until Buffy shows up to watch and then he tries to get credit for not feeding off victims.

The whole episode I was just thinking...how the hell is Giles going to pay for these damages? This is bankruptcy territory. And in the original script Giles comes back and acts insanely chipper and calm about it. I would have liked to see that.

Giles is going to contact The Watcher's Council to get some info about Glory. Buffy expresses anxiety about what they'd do if they find out Dawn is the key. Giles assures her he isn't telling them that part...but it got me thinking he's probably already considered killing Dawn might be the best option. Just like they would.

Character Notes:

Dawn Summers: A boy named Rusty Keeler didn't sit with her at lunch and she cried for two days and spat in his milk. She's confused about Buffy's calm over Riley.

Rupert Giles: He gets drooly over the Watcher's library.

Spike: He loves chicken wings and blooming onions.

Tara Maclay: She's allergic to shrimp.

Willow Rosenberg: She accidentally hurt her pet fish and was banned for five years before she got them back. She tried using hellebore to de-rat Amy and she thinks it increased her intelligence. Interesting she's still working on it.

[maybebitterxox]

Every friend group needs The Chosen One (aka teen girl trying her best), a computer-savvy lesbian witch with the worst abandonment and attachment issues you’ve ever seen, her nerdy lesbian witch gf with family trauma, a guy with commitment issues who dresses like a randomised sim and loves his friends, a father figure librarian who is tired of everyone’s shit, a money-loving ex-demon, a kleptomaniac child, an ex-evil slutty vampire bastard, a mean girl who serves cunt, and a friendly stoner werewolf who would treat you right

[elverrie]

the scoobies are playing "hear me out".

buffy: okay, i know i`m being controversial and so totally crazy. spike.

willow: ...

tara: ...

anya: ...

xander: ...

buffy: ...

xander: girl, it`s "hear me out", and you are picking the most handsome and conventionally attractive vampire with the sex appeal of jupiter`s gravity pull. he is not a "hear me out" material, he is the most common sense "yeah, we all get it, yeah, we all would". do any of you even undesrtand how to play this game?

[dailybtvs]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer 5.10 ― "Into the Woods"

[90s-kid-sad-adult]

still-beating heart of a virgin

[lovebvffys]

Buffy Meme: [1/8 Episodes] 6x07 Once More With Feeling

"So, Dawn's in trouble. Must be tuesday."

[starryeyesxx]

[whatisyourchildhoodtrauma]

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER 6.07 "Once More, With Feeling"